By Fredrik Dahl,
* Western states question China over Pakistan nuclear plans
*
Nuclear supplier states also discuss India at meeting
*
Expert sees weakening of non-proliferation commitments
VIENNA, June 27 (Reuters) -
Western states pressured China at closed-door talks last week to address
concerns about its plans to expand a nuclear power plant in Pakistan and
provide more information, but were rebuffed, two diplomatic sources said on
Wednesday.
Beijing's
atomic relations with Islamabad have caused
unease in Washington, Delhi
and other capitals due to Pakistan's
history of spreading nuclear arms technology and fears about the integrity of
international non proliferation rules.
"A number of countries asked
questions and expressed concerns," said one official, speaking about the
annual plenary session of the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), held on
June 21-22 in the U.S. city
of Seattle.
But China showed no sign of
reconsidering its position on building two more reactors at the Chashma nuclear
power complex in Pakistan's Punjab region, the official and another source
said, a stance Beijing also took when the issue was raised in last year's NSG
talks in the Dutch city of Noordwijk.
As its ties with the United States have suffered, Pakistan has been trying to move closer to Asian
powerhouse China, which has
welcomed Islamabad's
overtures.
The two-day meeting also debated
the issue of India's possible membership in the NSG, a consensus-based cartel
that seeks to ensure nuclear exports are not used for military purposes by
agreeing rules for such trade, the sources said.
In 2010, the United States announced backing for India's membership - a step that would make it
the only country outside the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in the
group - but Pakistan
has warned against allowing its rival to join.
"If India were to
apply now, there would be quite a detailed discussion on non
proliferation-related issues before a decision is taken," one of the
sources said, suggesting there were differences of opinion within the NSG.
A statement by the U.S. National
Nuclear Security Administration confirmed that the NSG's relationship with India was
discussed, but did not mention the China-Pakistan issue.
"Participating governments
called on all states to exercise vigilance and make best efforts to ensure that
none of their exports of goods or technologies contribute to nuclear weapons
programmes," it said on its website.
Close relations between China and Pakistan
reflect a long-standing shared wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to counter U.S. influence
across the region.
Analysts say China agreed to expand Chashma to match a 2008
nuclear energy deal between India
and the United States.
NUCLEAR PRINCIPLE EROSION?
Washington
and other governments have said China
should seek approval for the planned reactors from the NSG. But China argues
that the construction of two additional units at Chashma was part of a
bilateral deal sealed before it joined the NSG in 2004. China also
supplied the facility's first two reactors.
European Union members of the NSG
delivered a joint statement about the issue in Seattle, the two sources said. The U.S. delegation
also "posed a question," one of them said.
"China
basically reiterated that it comes under the grandfather clause," one
source said, referring to Beijing's
argument that the agreement was struck before it joined the nuclear suppliers'
forum.
To receive nuclear exports,
nations that are not one of the five officially recognised atomic weapons
states must usually place their nuclear activities under the safeguards of the
U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, NSG rules say.
When the United States sealed a nuclear supply deal with India in 2008 that China
and others found questionable because Delhi -
like Islamabad - is outside the NPT, Washington won a waiver
from that rule after contentious negotiations.
Pakistan
wants a similar civilian nuclear agreement with the United States to help meet its
growing energy needs.
But Washington
is reluctant, largely because a Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan,
admitted in 2004 to transferring nuclear secrets to North
Korea, Iran
and Iraq.
Pakistan
tested nuclear devices in 1998, soon after India, and both nations refuse to
join the NPT, which would oblige them to scrap nuclear weapons.
Nuclear analyst Mark Hibbs said
there had been an erosion of the principle that recipients of nuclear exports
must put all their atomic activities under IAEA safeguards.
"First by Russia a decade ago in its trade with India, then in the U.S.-sponsored India deal, and now by China's trade with Pakistan," Hibbs, of the
Carnegie Endowment think-tank, said.
"Since the late 1990s we
have seen a weakening of milestone non proliferation commitments by big
powerful countries." (Editing by Andrew Osborn)
No comments:
Post a Comment